Download slide hits music industry

Revenues from music streaming and subscription surged 51% worldwide last year, but total sales from recorded music fell 3.9% to $15 billion (£9 billion) as downloads suffered their first fall and CDs kept declining.

The slide in sales is a setback for an industry that saw its first annual growth in over a decade in 2012, when digital finally offset the decline of physical formats and the impact of piracy.

Frances Moore. chief executive of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which compiled the figures, described it as a “year of stabilisation” as overall revenues fell just 0.1% if the troubled Japanese market is excluded.

Streaming hit $1 billion, helping digital revenues to rise 4.3% but that was against 9% a year earlier. Downloads fell 2.1%. Moore said the industry is diversifing with new revenue streams and growth in emerging markets such as Latin America.

Physical formats still made up 51% of all sales, with digital only 39%, performance rights 8% and sync — music for advertising and film — 2%. “We are a portfolio industry — whether it is physical or downloads or streaming,” she said. “In many countries, downloads are growing.”

One Direction’s Midnight Memories was the top-selling album with four million units but Adele’s 21 sold 8.3 million a year earlier. Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines, was the top single.